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Topic: Let them eat… artisan bread (Read 2532 times)

On the time-vacuum that is Pinterest, I keep seeing a pin for crock pot bread. It is from a blog post on the people who wrote the * Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.

This isn’t so much a recipe request as a question: has anyone actually made their bread—particularly the basic recipe (either the original or whole wheat)? Is it any good?

Is it really as simple as they make it sound (pour ingredients into bowl, stir, let sit, refrigerate until needed, make a ball, bake)?

I want to try, but my experience with yeast-y things comprises a single attempt at helping my grandmother make bread about 20 years ago, where by helping, I mean I just watched her do it all, providing a bit of manual labor as needed.

I like the crockpot idea, though, because we don’t have an oven in the house.

They use their basic recipe from the book (so I’m mostly curious if the recipe is tasty and worth making… worst case scenario, I can take it over to my SO’s parents’ and bake it there if really needed) and claim it works out okay, with the caveat that it needs a few min in the oven to crisp up the crust (I think my toaster oven will suffice for that, just probably not the whole baking process)

I use a similar method - I mix my bread ingredients, usually for a single loaf, then put the dough into a sturdy plastic bag which I have oiled inside or sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking. I don't even knead the dough before I put it in the bag. Every once in a while I pick up the bag and squeeze the dough several times. I stick this in the fridge and leave it there three or four days before baking. The dough gets nicely rice and flavorful. When it's time to bake I take it out of the fridge and let it warm up to room temp for a little while before shaping and baking. Very easy and the yeast always rises (I usually use a very small amount of yeast due to the long fermentation time).

I would love to try the multi-loaf recipe but my fridge is not large enough to store a large container of dough for that long so I just do it a loaf at a time. Remember to allow a few days in the fridge for the dough to ripen.

I will definitely give the crock pot method and try and see how it works. I say go for it.

It's the same dough recipe in the OP only in the dutch oven. One trick I learned is that the best bread internal temp (taken with a meat thermometer) is 200 degrees. So take the temps close to the end to check for doneness.

I like to make a basic white bread loaf. It's ridiculously easy, although you need to be home for about three hours to wait out the rising times. My biggest concern with white bread is that we scarf it down like children who haven't eaten for several days. It's quite addictive.

When the "no-knead bread" recipe first became popular, the recommended rising time (using a teensy 1/4 teaspoon of yeast) was 14 to 20 hours rising time covered in a bowl on your counter (I find the top of my refrigerator to be ideal).

The flavor that develops is marvelous: complex, deeply satisfying, real REAL bread. I can't see how 3 hours in the refrigerator would do as well. Of course you don't have to be home all that time - it's "stir it together and forget it" bread!

I bake in a dutch oven and I would like to know how anyone experienced in this method gets a crust a little easier to cut.

And I'll have to look up the recipe for "crockpot bread", it looks interesting.

When the "no-knead bread" recipe first became popular, the recommended rising time (using a teensy 1/4 teaspoon of yeast) was 14 to 20 hours rising time covered in a bowl on your counter (I find the top of my refrigerator to be ideal).

The flavor that develops is marvelous: complex, deeply satisfying, real REAL bread. I canbju't see how 3 hours in the refrigerator would do as well. Of course you don't have to be home all that time - it's "stir it together and forget it" bread!

I bake in a dutch oven and I would like to know how anyone experienced in this method gets a crust a little easier to cut.

And I'll have to look up the recipe for "crockpot bread", it looks interesting.

The 3 hour one I do at room temp and uses alot more yeast than the original one you mentioned. As for the crust in Dutch oven, what do you mean easier to cut? Mine is crusty and cuts fine with a bread knife. I've also done it with a touch of water in the dutch oven so it steams.

When the "no-knead bread" recipe first became popular, the recommended rising time (using a teensy 1/4 teaspoon of yeast) was 14 to 20 hours rising time covered in a bowl on your counter (I find the top of my refrigerator to be ideal).

The flavor that develops is marvelous: complex, deeply satisfying, real REAL bread. I canbju't see how 3 hours in the refrigerator would do as well. Of course you don't have to be home all that time - it's "stir it together and forget it" bread!

I bake in a dutch oven and I would like to know how anyone experienced in this method gets a crust a little easier to cut.

And I'll have to look up the recipe for "crockpot bread", it looks interesting.

The 3 hour one I do at room temp and uses alot more yeast than the original one you mentioned. As for the crust in Dutch oven, what do you mean easier to cut? Mine is crusty and cuts fine with a bread knife. I've also done it with a touch of water in the dutch oven so it steams.

3 hours at room temperature with lots of yeast sounds like a standard bread recipe, which involves the usual kneading. The no-knead breads have long rising times, less yeast, and little kneading (the long rise produces the same re-arrangement of gluten molecules as the kneading does, and it goes more slowly because the yeast takes more time to produce its effect).

As an aside - I had previous noticed that in older books people talk about setting the bread to rise before going to bed, and baking the bread in the morning. That makes sense if they were making bread with less yeast.

It's the same dough recipe in the OP only in the dutch oven. One trick I learned is that the best bread internal temp (taken with a meat thermometer) is 200 degrees. So take the temps close to the end to check for doneness.

It is a little bit different from the OP, but when I make bread, I usualy go for soda breads. There is no simpler bread, you do not even have to let it sit to rise, you can have fresh bread 1 hour after you decide to make bread.

The 3 hour one I do at room temp and uses alot more yeast than the original one you mentioned. As for the crust in Dutch oven, what do you mean easier to cut? Mine is crusty and cuts fine with a bread knife. I've also done it with a touch of water in the dutch oven so it steams.

When I've done it, it almost takes a chainsaw to get through the crust (especially when adding a bit of water to the oven for steam) - I'm tempted to do the same recipe in the crockpot as you folks have suggested, and see what happens.